Thomas Manning, branded a deserter from the British Navy, is forced to change his name to James Alford to avoid the death penalty. Determined to forge a new life on the Gaspé Peninsula, he struggles to survive the harsh landscape and win the hand of Catherine Garrett. After working in harsh sub-zero woods, he saves the life of an orphan working in a sawmill, and so gains crucial lumber to build a homestead out of intractable wilderness. But first he must battle murderous brigands to rescue a starving bull calf he hopes will be the first of the oxen he so desperately needs to clear his land. Finally, heroically surviving Canada's worst-ever famine, he faces down implacable bureaucracies to keep the farm he has been fighting to bring under cultivation.A captivating and fast-paced adventure, THE SURVIVOR is Book Two of the Alford Saga, a series chronicling two hundred years of Canadian history, as seen through the eyes of one settler's family.
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Publisher:
Toronto : McArthur & Co., c2011
ISBN:
9781552789674
9781770871755
9781770871755
Branch Call Number:
ALMO
Characteristics:
259 p. : maps ; 23 cm
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Add a CommentThis is the second book in the Alford Saga, the first being The Deserter. The series is loosely based on Almond's own ancestors. We rejoin Thomas Manning/James Alford as he overcomes his grief and returns to the small English community of New Carlisle in hopes of work to earn money for supplies, both food and building materials. He ends up in a sawmill, soon proving his value as a hard worker. He teaches an orphan boy working at the mill to read and write and comes through for the boy at a crucial point.
Proving himself to the small community and becoming on good terms with the Garrett family, James returns to his land eager to make a life for his family.
Struggling against the elements, a harsh growing season, local villains, and personal sorrow, James and his family make a new home a begin to form a community with other newcomers.